


the zootopia sheets on your bed, this negative space

by deadwine



Category: EXO (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Introspection, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lee Jihoon, Pillow Talk, Sharing a Bed, just a thousand words about bedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26091487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadwine/pseuds/deadwine
Summary: Jihoon and Chanyeol sleep a little different after returning from a trip.
Relationships: Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	the zootopia sheets on your bed, this negative space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pixiepower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiepower/gifts).



> prompt: your bed after travelling  
> me: writes a 1.5k fic with a thousand words focused on the bed

Jihoon makes a beeline for the bed the minute he's done taking a shower, letting his knees hit the worn wooden edges as he falls face forward into it. He rolls around a little, just reveling in the friction between his skin and the familiar surface even as his hand knocks against the small bedside table littered with sheets full of half-formed thoughts scribbled in the middle of the night, a small lamp, a hair-clip, a guitar pick and a bunch of keys. he places his phone on the table and turns to face the ceiling, a sigh escaping his lips as his back aligns with the mattress. 

The pillow fits the incline of his head just right and the sheets smell clean, like that one citrusy detergent he himself has bought more than a couple times. His bare feet nudge against the fluffy comforter and he uses his toes to bring it up to his chin, more out of habit than any actual need for it- the aircon has only just begun cooling down the room.

It's strange just how relieved he feels lying on the bed when he’s not been away for particularly long-or doing anything that brought more than the usual stress. Maybe he had overestimated his capacity to feel at home in the great outdoors after all- not that he was about to admit that to anybody but himself. He is already dreading having to withstand Jeonghan hyung’s calculated but frequent _I never thought I’d see the day Lee Jihoon goes “glamping”_ for the foreseeable future- Jihoon was well aware that on the rare occasion that Jeonghan forgot to needle him about this, Seokmin would be sure to remind him. He couldn’t bear another smug smirk thrown his way, not about this. 

It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway. Chanyeol had told him he found a nice place up near the Daebudo trail a few weeks ago and when he asked Jihoon last friday if he wanted to come along for two nights or so, Jihoon didn’t find a good enough reason to say no- Chanyeol had assured him repeatedly that he would have access to a bed, a bathroom and wifi. Jihoon had said yes even before Chanyeol could bribe him with a month’s supply of coke- now _that,_ Jihoon can admit, he is ashamed of. 

Still, Jihoon had been understandably wary of what the experience would hold- luxury camping couldn't be all that different from real camping- but he was pleasantly surprised by how much he liked it. Winding down on a hillside that was driving distance from his home, watching Chanyeol tune his guitar next to the fire pit in the evening while Jihoon indulged in a rare can of beer was apparently exactly the kind of thing that suited him- that he _needed_ after a month of relentless work. Chanyeol had even checked with the facility beforehand and brought Toben along with him; there were few things in his life that made Jihoon laugh like watching Toben treat Chanyeol like the dirt under his tiny paws. he had the pleasure of doing absolutely nothing for two whole days, as dog and owner ran circles around each other until they both grew tired and plopped down on his either side. 

It was short and good and very freeing in that he did not have to see a single person he knew that wasn’t Chanyeol for three days, so he doesn’t understand why he is melting into the bed like he’s only been sitting on a chair for weeks with a deadline ahead of him.

Jihoon pushes himself up and grabs his phone, lying back down in the center of the bed, warm and comfortable enough to doze off after a bit of mindless scrolling on social media. He’s looking through Yoora noona’s latest stories- all of Toben put up right after they dropped him off an hour ago- when he hears Chanyeol come out of the shower. There’s a soft sound of the lights in the kitchen and the hallway being turned off before the footsteps get closer to the bedroom.

Chanyeol closes the door behind him as he enters and spots Jihoon on his phone in the middle of the bed, sheets messed up all around him. Jihoon looks up and ignores Chanyeol’s pointedly raised eyebrows.

“Did you get the water?” Chanyeol waves the bottle in his left hand, gaze still fixed on the state of the bed. Jihoon holds out his hand, not even bothering to sit up.

Chanyeol walks towards the bed slowly. “Is it one of those nights?” he asks with a put-on frown.

“What? I'm not in the mood, if that's what you're asking." Jihoon says bluntly. 

"Shut up," Chanyeol retorts, blushing despite his words, "I was asking if you're trying to be a brat on purpose tonight." 

He hands Jihoon the bottle of water and Jihoon takes a big full of it before turning to Chanyeol with a mischievous glint, "As opposed to being one all the time?"

Chanyeol pouts, nudging Jihoon aside easily as he climbs on to the bed. "The audacity of being mean to me while you lie spread across _my_ bed like you own it- don't make me throw you out into the street, Jihoon-ah." 

Jihoon snorts, "Don't pretend to be a hardass, hyung." He shifts back onto his own pillow. It’s quiet for a while as they both scroll through their phones, play-fighting with their adjacent feet over the covers. Jihoon feels the exhaustion seep back in again and he locks his phone, resolving to look at the texts he’s been consciously ignoring throughout the weekend the next morning. Chanyeol stretches over him and drops his own phone on the table before switching off the lamp and falling back on the bed with a groan. 

“Hyung,” Jihoon rolls on to his side to face Chanyeol, who just hums in response, eyes unfocused and bleary already. “I haven’t tried your recipes in a while, have I?”

Chanyeol opens the eye that isn’t smushed into his pillow and looks at Jihoon in barely concealed contemplation before softly sighing. “We’ve both been busy and you haven’t come over in a bit.. so, yeah, I guess it’s been a while since the last time.” His voice almost breaks off towards the end, eyes falling half-shut as soon as he’s done speaking.

Jihoon leans towards Chanyeol unconsciously, himself on the verge of drifting off and says, “Cook for me tomorrow, hyung.”

Chanyeol smiles sleepily, “whatever you want, Hoon-ah,” and presses a soft kiss on the corner of Jihoon’s lips. He’s still smiling when his head hits the pillow and he’s dead to the world almost instantly. 

Jihoon feels more awake then he’s been all evening, even on the car ride back home he’d been nodding off but now he watches the moonlight piercing through the thin curtains fall on Chanyeol’s hair, roots growing out under the bleach. Jihoon wants to run his hands through it, Jihoon wants to look away- from the hair, the tiny crease on his forehead, the way his fingers curl around the comforter at his waist. There’s an uneasy restlessness thrumming through him, keeping him on the edge of wakefulness- he tosses and turns but no position feels quite right, the mattress unwieldy under his weight.

It’s not like him to be unnerved by a kiss, not when it's Chanyeol, not when they’ve done far more than that in the last few months; Chanyeol made most things easy including sex and falling into bed together felt natural, like they had been doing it for years. But Chanyeol has never kissed him like this before, without purpose or thought, just following his unconscious instinct to lean in closer- _or maybe he had, and Jihoon never noticed._

Jihoon isn’t used to something so tender and yet so ordinary, habitual even, a matter of body reigning control over mind. Chanyeol kissed him like it was warranted, just the usual progression of their nights together-

_Maybe it could have been, if Jihoon would’ve given a little more thought to why his skin recognizes Chanyeol’s bed as home, why these motions were more familiar to him than the words he’d saved two weeks ago on his notes app and what it means to be the one who had Chanyeol’s only house key on his person all the time, nevermind that he didn’t have his own keys with him. his life had narrowed down to the studio and Chanyeol’s house anyway._

Chanyeol throws a hand around Jihoon in his sleep, bringing him towards himself. Jihoon inhales the scent of Chanyeol’s favourite soap and lets his mind empty. All thoughts of fickle beds and skin skittish under the gentle pressure of a pair of lips flit away as the bonelessness returns and Jihoon falls asleep tilting towards that touch.

**Author's Note:**

> the bed as the silent note between the instrumentals of chanyeol and jihoon
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/deadseoull?s=09)  
> [ cc](https://curiouscat.me/deadwine)


End file.
